The shadow police officers inspecting huge quantity of calcium carbonate seized from a godown in Mattanchery
KOCHI:The Shadow Police on Saturday raided the godown of a fruit shop at Mattancherry here and seized 480 kg of mango and 20 kg of orange, which were artificially ripened using calcium carbide.
The police have registered a case. Shakeer of Kodumkulam, Mattancherry, and Rafeeque of BSS Road, Fort Kochi, owners of ‘PBA Sons Fruits’ functioning near the Jain Temple at Mattanchery, were arrested.
“As many as 24 boxes of mangoes, each weighing 20 kg, and one box of orange were seized during the raid. Considering the high demand for mangoes this season, the arrested persons purchased mangoes from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh at cheap rates and ripened them using calcium carbide. More than seven kg of calcium carbide and the gloves used to apply the chemical on the fruits were also seized from the store room of the shop,” the police officials said.
“The fruit shop was kept under surveillance following a tip-off received several days ago. Samples of the seized calcium carbide were handed over to Food Safety officials, and sent for chemical examination. The arrested will be produced before the magistrate on Sunday,” Shadow Police Squad sub-inspector Ananthalal said.
According to Aananthlal, the use of calcium carbide for ripening fruits is rampant in Kochi when the demand is very high.
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